Spin, it's Not Just a Magazine Anymore!

Listened to conservative radio on the drive in this morning, their spin was hi-larious.

To them, this budget fight was a HUGE WIN for Boner and the (R) Party. They "made Obama cut", "got the Dems to cut", and "set the stage for the "real fight" to come, the 2012 Budget and Debt Limit Debate.

In truth, what they did was less than nothing. They "cut" less in spending than we (the Fed.) accrues in Debt in a single week.

Congrats on that.

Really.

Just wait, when 1/1000th of the "Ryan Budget" gets passed, they'll call that a win too. And when the Debt Limit gets raised only 95% as far as the (D) wants, they'll claim that a win too.

Greatly Outdated Party, the GOP.

Oh, btw, Obama and the Media are proclaiming this a win for him, not for (R). best of luck convincing folks they're wrong.

When politics comes down to the wire as it did this past Friday, there is no true winner.

With that said, cutting $38.5 billion out of this year's budget is a fairly significant cut. It's the biggest annual cut in our nation's history. It's a starting point which needs to be continued in our long term budget plans.

Personally, I view this as a victory for the Republicans. The Democrats' plan was to cut ZERO from the budget, and the Republicans got them to $38.5 billion. In the grand scheme of things, it's not a huge dent in the deficit, but it is a big number.

Since the elections in November, the Republicans have won two of the biggest fiscal issues: extending the Bush tax cuts and cutting the 2011 budget. Not sure I would really call this victory as spin.

Were you planning on running out into the streets, breaking windows, and smashing cars, if the Govt. had "shutdown" Bit?

On noes, I can't see the Washington Monument today......honey, where did I leave my "Riot'in Bat".

Originally Posted by parafly

With that said, cutting $38.5 billion out of this year's budget is a fairly significant cut. It's the biggest annual cut in our nation's history. .

See, it's clear the Spin Machine is already working. GREATEST CUT IN US HISTORY (YAY!)....kinda like the greatest recession since teh Great Depression, amirite? Grabs the attention, and folsk swallow it right down without another thought.

It's not a meaningful cut. As stated, it's less (in cuts) that we create (in debt) in a single week of Govt. Operation. Thats no meaningful in any form whatsoever, it's stage acting.

And both sides, as usual, are eating it up. Dems think they saved humanity by not alowing the Govt. to stop (as if it actually stopped, more spin and lol-propaganda) and (R) think they have a snowballs chance in hell of stopping the Debt limit increase or passing Ryans Budget Plan.

See, it's clear the Spin Machine is already working. GREATEST CUT IN US HISTORY (YAY!)....kinda like the greatest recession since teh Great Depression, amirite? Grabs the attention, and folsk swallow it right down without another thought.

It's not a meaningful cut. As stated, it's less (in cuts) that we create (in debt) in a single week of Govt. Operation. Thats no meaningful in any form whatsoever, it's stage acting.

And both sides, as usual, are eating it up. Dems think they saved humanity by not alowing the Govt. to stop (as if it actually stopped, more spin and lol-propaganda) and (R) think they have a snowballs chance in hell of stopping the Debt limit increase or passing Ryans Budget Plan.

Laughable, is what this is.

In terms of the greatest cut in US history, it's not spin, it's fact, whether you want to acknowledge it or not.

I share your frustration, but we need to be a bit realistic here. These things do not happen overnight. I think one can reasonably say we are headed in the right direction at the very least.

Our budget deficit is overwhelmingly dictated by SS, Medicare, Medicaid, and Defense. Since none of these were addressed in our annual budget, I'm not really sure what you were expecting in terms of making a dent in the big picture deficit.

Let's see what happens with the debate over the long term budget and debt ceiling. Baby steps, my friend.

What rhetoric exactly? Women's health, the EPA? Democrats didn't cave on those issues, those riders got taken out.

The money! The Democrats wouldn't have cut a dime. The concept of cuts were labeled extreme.

Lets see if the new budget Obama is looking to release calls for tax increases on more then just the top 1 or 2 percent. Lets see him propose tax increases for a large base in order to pay down the deficit. Bet he doesn't have the balls to do it.

Based on the portion of the budget that was under descussion it was a huge cut. Based on the Democratic rhetoric and there eventually caving in it was a pretty nice win for the Speaker.

Granted the real meat is in entitlements and military. That really wasn't on the table this go around.

Not disagreeing, but the expenditures in some of these areas are simply insane:

Agriculture: $26 billion a year
Defense: $660 billion a year

If you took 16% off the defense budget, it would represent the entire cut that was just enacted. Agriculture is a pork barrel so big and so deep, it's a national scandal. And those are just two areas. But which senators and congressmen will have to take the hit on those two areas? The same ones that control the committees... good luck.

And if you think we're "headed in the right direction" re: Govt. size and spending and power over the individual, you need your head examined.

In terms of government spending, how is the latest move NOT heading in the right direction? A cut in spending is the wrong direction?

Discussing government size is not applicable until we grapple entitlements and defense. These issues were not on the table during negotiations for this year's budget. We can only hope that reform in these areas comes with long term budget plans.

What "power over the individual" specifically? Did you really expect this to be tackled in the 2011 budget negotiations? I feel like you are being overly cynical in this case, and expecting way too much out of a budget for a single year.

Our fiscal problems run deep, and they will require reform and policy changes at many levels. It's not possible to tackle all of the issues in a single year right off the bat. It would be crippling.

The bottom line is that in the past few months the federal government has cut taxes (once again) as well as cut almost $40 billion from a portion of the budget where that number is fairly significant. Let's see what happens moving forward. It appears that both sides are coming to realization that spending needs to come down significantly, and the next step is to tackle the real meat of what drives our deficits up.